Pollux

She let the cat sniff her fingers before she started to pet it. It seemed curious about the unusual off-yellow color of them, flicking its tongue at the back of her hand. Then it nudged at her more insistently and Yue Hua gently rubbed its head. The cat's eyes squinted shut and it leaned upwards into her touch. "Baby. You're so sweet," she giggled, delighted. While Yue Hua was cooing at the new familiar, Firefly thought of a name. "I think it suits her, too." On the surface level, the cat was silvery-gray. Possibly, it also carried some amount of expectation, like all names did.

Her eyes glinted at the challenge. "Deal. And of course, I will be the one paying if you solve it instead. Where do you usually eat, Leader?" She did not know where a movie star's tastes in food leaned but today she felt confident in her wallet. Not so much in her problem-solving abilities. Yue Hua was, in her humble and unbiased opinion, a force to be reckoned with in a physical bout, calm, collected, and efficient; but stacking a race on top of this uncommon task shot an excited, jittery feeling through her nerves that made her want to bounce on the heels of her feet. Wrestling bac

If DoTs were her intention, Yue Hua didn't think Xena would have a problem with the crit. portion of it. And a poor Floor 5 quest boss stood no chance against the spectacular arts of two frontline level players. Really, with the sudden inclusion of Freyd and Xena, they had overdone it. Soon after Wulfrin's strike had brought Terra Firma crashing to the ground, Yue Hua busied herself with poking through the sands. Her loot goblin tendencies afforded her no rest. She unearthed a thinner scale that had fallen off the beast's armor and was partially buried in the quick scuffle, not to be

Objective fulfilled. New objective: pet the cat. Yue Hua stumbled out of the brush as soon as she heard Firefly's call. Along the way, she tugged a fruit from a vine and stuffed it in her inventory. "Good work," she praised, but even though, logically, she knew the system had named the tiny purring creature as Firefly's now, the woman still kept her voice pitched cautiously low, still concerned of scaring it off. It would have made more sense in reality. "On your first try, too. She seems to have taken a liking to you quite easily. Or, he...?" Yue Hua left it to Firefly to check

She liked beautiful things. Rarely did she ever find herself so uniquely drawn to one though. She held a tiny pocket of sea in a bottle. Yue Hua had no place for three [Evade] slots in her intended build but once she laid eyes on the trinket through the glass of the display case, then carefully took it out, she immediately felt reluctant to do the practical thing and part with it. "Should I buy this one too, kitty?" The cat that guarded the counter gave an answering chirp. "Right," Yue Hua said serenely. She pretended that the cat had convinced her to impulse buy with a frighten

She weighed her decision, but even without making a conclusive statement in her mind, her meandering stroll took her to the teleport plaza. The transfer required a visit to Evangeline in the Town of Beginnings. ...And a completely necessary shopping trip at the city's east wing. Yue Hua wrote up orders for the supplies that were running low in the pantry and sent notice to the guild's group chat, then liberated her wallet of three non-alchemy materials at the artisan shop with the cute cat in exchange for a small glass bottle that reminded her of the sea. She held the trinket above h

"Not yet." After giving her horse one last affectionate pat, Yue Hua followed a step behind Morningstar, her nacreous eyes tracing the movements of the shadows cast by Morningstar's glowstone on the cave walls. From the first cavern the ground sloped gently downwards, interrupted from place to place by overgrown roots. Small fissures. Then they came into a spacious cave where the cracks widened into a gap in the ceiling and rays of sunlight spilled inwards. Yue Hua detached herself from the circle of light cast by Morningstar's glowstone, surveying the area curiously. There was a mas

Trailing behind the two men, Yue Hua observed that they seemed close and looked remarkably similar. She internally designated Wulfrin as the younger brother because he was the shorter of the pair. Satisfied with her conclusion, Yue Hua turned to Xena, intending to fill their walk with light chatter. "You're quite far along in terms of levels yourself. How long have you been at it? I started a month or so prior, I think, and I intend to build into a healer role. My impression is that there is a scarcity of them." Few needed to know her exact circumstances. They soon reached the quest locat

Yue Hua shut one eye and tilted her head. "Hm. Dunno. Why not?" It was difficult to explain something that felt natural to her. Duels between players were not 'violent' despite the exchanging of blows because their terms were agreed upon by both parties prior and were, for her part, harmless tests of strength. Simple games. Anything with more on the line had felt too big for her at the start, and although she eventually grew accustomed to it as all players whose travels took them past the settlements did, she still preferred to conduct her business far back from the tipping point. "B

She struggled with her attention split. Yue Hua’s main priority was still watching over Firefly. She had identified a thin, delicate flowering plant on the ground shortly after she sharpened her sight, but if she crouched down to properly dig it out, the tall brush in front of her would obscure her guildmate from her vision. So, Yue Hua took to awkwardly nudging the tip of her farming boot into the ground, scraping the soil away from the plant, as her focus still rested on the girl and the cat in her peripheries. One centimeter too far, and she accidentally snapped the plant’s roots, extinguis

Firefly's (hopefully) cat was seated atop a half wall, beckoned by the spyglass. It was white, with a fluffy face, and its blue eyes watched them back as both players quietly exclaimed their appreciation. "So cute," Yue Hua gushed behind Firefly. She was just about imagining squishing its little cheeks and playing with it along with her guildmate. "Your move, Firefly. I'll stay back here." She was hardly the clumsy sort but she did not want to trip on anything and ruin Firefly's chances. Familiar taming was a delicate thing. Though a number of creatures in Aincrad were friendly to pl

Was he blushing? They continued to walk, the spare teleport changing hands, and Yue Hua was ready to prod back with the same lightness she had maintained so far when her companion, whom in her eyes was now carried away by the excitement of the next task, began to race ahead, metaphorically. "So, Hua... Did you have any plans on what you were planning on doing if you got out?" Yue Hua didn't. "I think if we do..." Dexter, like everyone else who looked to the future, had his own wish. There was a commonality between beginners at any pursuit envisioning themselves at the

Yue Hua's mood was quick to improve. Slipping between pocket realities, she felt herself swept up in the same childlike amazement she had when the Trackers first discovered the location and decided to build there. A secret place accessible by items only they could hold or a specific sequence of steps known only to them -- or anyone curious enough to investigate, as was what defined their guild's shared characteristic. More than everyday magic, Yue Hua thought she had never felt more a part of a whole. She resurfaced beneath the shadow of Taft's cathedral. The reflection of the hill laid b

Yue Hua had enough experience with mysteries to know that she wasn't an easy hand at it. Lucky that she was shadowing her bored guild leader, if one could equate enjoyment with some level of skill. "Usually, they don't like me," she said, dead serious. But in contradiction, her horse was happily nuzzling her hand after she had compulsively showered it with pets and hugs as soon as Morningstar had led it to her. She added, "It's the tail. Apparently it's heavy and I set them off balance with it." So, after a quick traversal through her menus, Yue Hua waved it off. From Tolbana th

Well and truly blinded. She had intended to simply pick whatever she found along the way but a strange competitive instinct -- against the game, maybe -- flared up in her when this approach yielded her nothing. Yue Hua trudged around in circles, her eyes trained on the ground. Less than a month into her stay, she had more or less identified the places where materials were most likely to spawn. She checked all of them, combed through spots of overgrown grass, picked unlabeled leaves and flowers, and recited the instructions she had spoken to Dexter during his lessons back to herself.

Yue Hua gracefully sank into an empty chair. Appeased, she looked out the window, appreciating the wide view of their lands afforded by Morningstar's office. Some way down the hill, she had put up a shed for her alchemy with an open-fronted attachment where she liked to relax after a day of crafting. She had foregone that today, eager to test herself elsewhere after her and Wulfrin's trip to the desert. It was quiet, save for the rustling of pages. When the sound stopped, Yue Hua went over and slid the journal closer to herself. She skimmed through its contents, finding a few key par

厌倦你浪潮般涨落地爱我 当作莫名靠岸惶惑地来过 再说了从未幻想过你爱我 天马行空都埋没 Four weeks after the founding of the Trackers Alliance, on the fourth day of the frontline's raid preparations, autumn's hand was picking the leaves off birch trees and great piles of drained orange and brown were gathering at every inch of their territory. The morn was peaceful and cold and the bartender had long concluded his shift. Soft rapid footfalls, the pace of a brisk walk, sounded down the main hall and the door to Morningstar's office slammed open with vigor. "Leader," Y

She didn't want to mope over what any other player might have called a blessing the entire day. Yue Hua took a moment to calm down, which outwardly consisted of staring intensely down at the ginger root in her hand as though it were a talisman. Some cures needed not to be mixed into tinctures. Sending back replies dressed in her desired mood also helped. HUA: t3? r u even asking? HUA: ofc it's a huge help :triumph: :triumph: HUA: i owe u 24 small faovrs HUA: or 5 medium HUA: or 2 big HUA: :thumbsup: HUA: on that note is there anything that i might be able to do for you today?

She cut into the last pancake with slightly more aggression than necessary. The crafting board. She knew but it was only the written confirmation that brought the untidy knot of her feelings to surface. More preferred to the lighter parts of the event, the Trackers hadn't chosen to tackle it as a guild. So she hadn't minded the task at all, preferring to craft to her own preference rather than follow Hiten's schemata, until Sibyl, who had barely spoken to her since their first meeting, dropped her a message. Was she still at rock bottom? A small amount of EXP to bump her stat line up

Yue Hua's eyes squinted shut, pleased, and she nodded her head vigorously at Wulfrin's observation. Anyone fully aware of the exact circumstances of her skip might have said that Yue Hua had not been the one in the muck chopping away at quests and mobs herself. But she had done that song and dance one disastrous reset ago and she considered making creative use of one's resources a skill in itself... even if this one in question had done it completely rogue. All told, she was supposed to walk off with the credit and the favor owed gave her some much-needed direction. She dreaded the day sh

Yue Hua's hand trembled with the urge to grab another. The second victim: cuttings of mint held together with a string. Good for one potion, the material hung next to other herbs stored in the same way, exactly at eye level. Her long years of being a greedy virtual loot goblin in video games then the following also(?) years(??) long stint of being a greedy physical loot goblin as an aimless wanderer starved for resources in Aincrad called to her. Yue Hua listened to the voices. She swore she was also going to replace this one later. She almost knocked everything over when a string of

She continued, alone and uninterrupted. She swung open the door to the pantry and she internally flipped through her limited knowledge of recipes. Their bartender NPC's duty hours ended far earlier than when Yue Hua usually woke up. Breakfast, if not bought from the shops in Taft, had to be prepared by herself. She went back and forth between closely packed shelves and the small cooking area squeezed next to the window, picking up two small sacks and a carton, pans, utensils, and a bowl. Once everything was gathered at the counter, she stared them all down with a frown. Flour. Eggs. Sugar

A shaded bubble beneath her last communication informed her it was sent. Already a stroke of luck, considered. She waited, lazing about in her bed, running a comb through the feathered end of her tail. She relished the soft, silky feel of it, then moved on to her hair, which rarely gave her trouble since she moved so little in her sleep. When she ran out of knots to untangle and the other end of the line remained silent, she resigned herself to more waking moments with the mystery. Yue Hua drifted out into the quiet hall, eyes half squinted shut against the brightness of the morning. Her

"Of course," Yue Hua remarked. "That is what our guild is for." She could not help but recall that Firefly had said almost the exact same thing during their first meeting. She mulled on it as they walked along the town walls, folding her hands behind her head. It made her the picture of ease, though she was still poised to respond to danger should it impossibly present itself this close to town. "I suppose I could say I'm here for the same thing. My trouble with levels aside, I have always been curious about what was going through Kayaba's head when he made all this. Creation reflect

厌倦你浪潮般涨落地爱我 当作莫名靠岸惶惑地来过 再说了从未幻想过你爱我 天马行空都埋没 On a crisp late autumn morning in Floor 11, swathed in thick quilted blankets in the room she occupied within the guild HQ's dormitories, Yue Hua woke to find that she had skipped two entire tiers in her sleep. She dug herself out of her blanket cocoon, bleary and befuddled, and she tried to piece together how she might have bested an army of high value monsters, perhaps five hundred strong, in less than eight hours, then promptly forgot. It must have been a mission of quite extre